NWA Re-cap

I believe the tone was set for our trip the night before we left, when Jeremy insisted on driving back to his office downtown to get his study materials. Just in case he needed to study while we were on vacation. Little did we know we would forget something or have to turn around at least 3-4 more times over the course of the weekend! The good news is we got to check out the fire at Star Furniture on I-45 Thursday night on our way back from downtown around midnight. We're rubber neckers like that.

We left very early Friday morning with Jeremy's parents and flew to Tulsa. It's such a quick and easy flight. It should be followed by a quick and easy drive from Tulsa to Northwest Arkansas (henceforth known as NWA - Bentonville/Rogers/Bella Vista/Fayetteville/etc.) You just take 412, which becomes a turnpike, and turn north onto 540 once in NWA. Easy peasy! We took the wrong turnpike first, heading us to Joplin, Missouri (which you can still get to NWA from, I think Jamie and Josh shop in Joplin sometimes). The great thing about a turnpike is that there are few exits and you barely go through any towns. The bad thing about wanting to get off a turnpike is there are few exits and you barely go through any towns. Plus we had to dig for change to get off then back on the turnpike as it was exact change only. A few of us may or may not have gotten a little grumpy on this detour - I won't go into details to protect his or her identity. We got back onto 412 (the correct turnpike) and were happily on our way again. Little did we know...Tony's phone rang, and when he listened to the message, he said, "Do we all have our bags?" OOOPS!! Jeremy and I were in charge of gathering the luggage, and we left Tony's black duffel bag at baggage claim! We just got our 2 matching suitcases, and Tony and Judy's 2 matching suitcases and thought we were good to go. (Did I forget to mention the Hamblen men's ingenuity when it came to squishing our 4 suitcases in the trunk of our Chevy Malibu? They are SO good at packing vehicles!) We turned around (again with the problem of finding a place to do so on a turnpike) and headed back to the airport. Jeremy pointed out taking the wrong turnpike was actually good as we would have been much further away from the airport if we had stayed correctly on 412! So true! Tony missed his (second? third?) cup of morning coffee since he was asleep on the plane, so we promised to stop at Starbuck's for him on our way back into Tulsa. We mapped one on the same road as the airport, how lucky is that?! Until we found out it was inside the airport. No coffee for Tony. Poor Tony. Maybe the "phone incident" was a form of coffee withdrawal?

We did finally make it to Bentonville and met Jamie and Josh for lunch at Whole Hog Cafe (Judy's only request for the weekend), which basically made Josh a traitor to Smokin' Joe's (his regular BBQ joint). But Whole Hog catered their rehearsal dinner last August and it was just as good as we remembered! Then we headed to their house, relaxed, and played Wii. Jamie took Judy and me to 3 of the cutest little shops ever! We bought a few little things and I found something I will need if I ever have a baby girl - a pink blanket and pillow that say "ASAP: As Southern As Possible." I love it! That night we drove to Fayetteville to see the campus and ate at a brewery on their main drag. Poor Jeremy gets really carsick if he rides in the back, and almost lost it by the football stadium (coincidence?), but we could tell he was feeling much better once he started inhaling avocado relleno and beer cheese dip. And we never made the mistake again of having Jeremy sit in the back!

Saturday Jamie made us a gourmet breakfast and then we headed out to the lake. Jamie and Josh bought a boat last fall maybe (?) and we were excited to try it out on Beaver Lake! (Incident #4: We forgot the boat keys and had to turn around for them, though we were still in their neighborhood.) The weather looked like it couldn't decide on rain or shine, but opted for the latter once we settled in a cove to swim and eat lunch. Coming from a girl who jumped on Jeremy's back the whole time we were in the clear blue water in St. Thomas, it means a lot when I say - the lake was so gorgeous! It was dark blue-green and clear enough to see your feet. I even got a little sun! (Only because I refused to put sunscreen on.) We ate lunch on the boat, and move to another little cove further from the marina. Jeremy and I dozed, it was so relaxing. Until we noticed the dark clouds moving in. Until the wind made the waves choppy as we were leaving the cove. Until we were almost bounced out of the front of the boat and completely soaked after slapping a wave. We moved to the back, where Tony and Judy were just as wet and jostled about. We wrapped up in towels and prayed Josh could get us back quick but with no more wave-slapping! If you looked behind us, tons of bigger boats were all heading in also - we looked like an armada! It was a little crazy. Then we passed a stranded lone jet skier and as the southernly southerners we are, asked if he needed help. Jeremy was livid! He yelled "Let them [the bigger boats] help him! What are we going to do??" My husband's callousness was a joke the rest of the weekend! But don't worry, we made it back to the marina safely and right before it really started pouring.

Would you believe the ONLY pictures we took were from the lake?? Boo!

Starting out the day

The kids + Tony playing in the water

Our gracious hosts, Josh & Jamie

Schmoopies on the lake!

And here is a progression of our trip back to the marina, trying to outrun the storm:

Getting a little choppy...

Still smiling...

Where did Meg go??

We warmed up with some Starbuck's and got showered and changed for dinner out. We went to Fish City Grill at the new outdoor mall, which I thought was really good and was pleased to find out there is one in Houston. We played Imaginiff back at home, which provided many more laughs! That's always a fun game with family, especially 6 Hamblens.

Sunday we woke up to another gourmet breakfast and no plans for the day. The boys went to play disc golf in Fayetteville, and Jamie took us ladies to get pedicures (thanks, Judy!) and we window-shopped around the outdoor mall. (Incident #5: Jamie forgot her phone at home, but we didn't go back for it.) We met the guys back home, and we got to relax while Jamie and Josh slaved away cooking us a feast of ribeye steaks, potatoes, pasta salad, coleslaw and tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and home-grown basil. YUM! It was so good, and it reinforced our desire to buy a gas grill! Jamie also made us strawberry shortcake after we'd digested the feast. That night we played around Target, then went to see Night at the Museum 2. I thought it was pretty cute, but I like 12-year-old girl movies anyway (like when we went to see High School Musical 3 for Becky's 26th birthday!). Don't worry, the Jonas brothers had a cameo in the movie and I was. so. excited. when I found out!

The girls' pretty toes!

Monday it was time to go, so we packed, said our goodbyes and headed out toward Tulsa. We were sure we'd left something, but we didn't and it was smooth sailing back to Houston. It was so nice getting back at a decent hour - we got back by 4pm, got to see my sister who had been house/dogsitting for us, had dinner at El Tiempo, stopped by Target, and set up Tony & Judy's new Wii.

The company was great over the weekend and we're glad we were all able to be together! Thanks for everything, Josh, Jamie, Judy & Tony! Over Christmas I promise to bear some of the load and fix some meals at our place...though I would not go so far as to call them gourmet.